Liverpool's Manager Offers Zero Justifications and Pledges to Plot Way From Slump
Liverpool's head coach stated he needed to “look at myself” after the Reds endured a 6th defeat in seven Premier League games on their own turf to Forest and insisted he would find a solution from the champions’ slump.
Forest, fighting against the drop prior to the match, produced the largest win at Anfield in their club records as the Merseyside club fell to an eighth defeat in eleven matches in all competitions. The most expensive domestic acquisition, the Swedish striker, was again unnoticeable and the home side contended Murillo’s opener ought to have been ruled out for similar reasons to the captain's chalked-off goal against Manchester City prior to the international break. But the manager conceded the responsibility stopped with him and offered no alibis.
“Nobody wants to listen to me now talking about refereeing decisions if you are defeated 3-0 at home to Nottingham Forest,” stated the Reds' boss. “I should look at myself initially and my squad, but it does show you how a goal can alter the momentum of a match. Before I was just hoping for us to net a goal. Afterwards we barely generated anything.
“Naturally there is a path forward, particularly with the quality footballers we have. No matter if you triumph or lose when you look back you are always considering: ‘Where can we do better, where can we make changes?’ but that is different from doubting yourself.
“I want to stress I am responsible for the current defeats. You are responsible when you are winning but also liable when you are defeated. I can never provide sufficient excuses for us to have the results we have. That is far from good enough and I am responsible for that.”
The team's display fell apart as the coach made multiple offensive changes when pursuing the game. “It was the same away at Nottingham Forest the previous campaign,” he said. “I took Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] off and brought on [Diogo] Jota and he scored immediately to make it 1-1. Then it was brave, currently it’s probably stupid.”
Liverpool last lost back-to-back home league fixtures by Forest in the sixties. The last time they suffered back-to-back top-flight matches by a 3-0 scoreline was in the mid-60s.
Slot said: “It was extremely poor. Competing on home soil, losing 3-0 regardless of which team you face is a terrible outcome. Unexpected if you look at the opening 30 minutes of the match. I did not witness us creating so much in the opening half-hour perhaps the entire season, and the initial occasion they entered in our penalty area they scored.
“It did not happen at City, but in all other game we have been the dominant side and were capable to generate opportunities. Recently it is almost consistently that we miss our opportunities and the ones we concede find the net.”